Thursday, February 25, 2010

As most of you know I am down in AZ enjoying a little time away from the Wisconsin winter. However I just spent the last hour with nurse Andrea pulling stitches out of my head. The Arizona sun isn't always the best for you. About a month ago I went to the doctor and he noticed an odd spot of skin on my face. Long story short it was a small spot of skin cancer. A couple days later I was on the operating table as the doc was cutting a nickel size hole in the side of my head. There are three types of skin cancer and luckily for me I had the least damaging type. All of the cancer was removed and now I'll have a solid 2 inch scar as a reminder.

The first thing that came to mind was this article in Velonews a while back. The doctor told me that most likely the damage to the skin was done between the ages of 10 - 20 years old. When I was a Jr. and the next few season of traveling the country racing in the mini-van it was more important to become a bronzed god than to race fast! I guess I was young....over the past 5 or 6 years I have been very very aware of the sun intake while training, but it was too late. Lesson learned....SPF 45 is your friend.

So here I am back in the sun, but this time around I'm being extremely cautious. We left Wisconsin 8 days ago and spent 3 full days in the car and 2 nights in some shady hotels. Rosco, 3 bikes, and some food all loaded into the little Hyundai Accent 3 door! The only bummer was the lack of cruise control.

We rolled into town last Friday evening to the sounds of Coyotes howling and some snorting Javelinas in our backyard. The next morning we headed out for a ride and saw a Bobcat within 15 minutes of leaving the driveway...pretty awesome.

I only have my cross bike down here right now, but its getting the job done. I've got in 5 solid rides, the new Bontrager Classics w/ Saris Powertap can pretty solid and am having fun studying the power data! Yesterday I found out my new Fuel 9.9 SSL is available and its shipping to Trek Store of Tucson! Can't wait to build 'er up and rip some desert singletrack.

We are planning on staying another 2 weeks and then heading over to visit mom and dad and partake in the Gravel Rouser Classic! Until then we'll be enjoying the sun with plenty of SPF 45.

Friday, February 12, 2010

I wonder why the Olympic Rings and the Rainbow Jersey stripes are the same colors? Looking forward to opening cermonies and some XC Skiing!

Plans are slowly coming together for the Tucson trip. It looks like we finally found a good place on the west side of town off of Silverbell Rd. I can't wait...the first year (back in 99) I was in Tucson I trained on the west side with the guys from Slovakia and The Czech Republic. I bet they were pretty pumped on Stybar winning!

I've been doing a little more skate skiing, should hit up the breakfast ride this weekend, doing some Yoga, and before I know it should be in Tucson clocking some miles on the new Bontrager Classics wheelset laced up with a Saris Powertap Hub!

Sunday, February 07, 2010

Well the work on our basement has almost come to an end. It was pretty much a 4 step process. Scrape the old paint / calcium deposits off with a wire brush, scrub the walls with an Etching solution, patch the wholes and cracks, and finally paint. After 3 weeks straight of at least 2 hours in the basement we have 2 coats of paint applied. I'm happy to be almost finished, but I think its going to need a third coat...now that the basement is pure white it looks more like a looney bin than a dungeon.

I started doing a little cross training after a month off. 2 times out to Greenbush for some skate skiing, a couple runs, and some yoga. Nothing serious....I like to ease into things! It's looking like less than a week and we head to Tucson! Things are not busy enough at the shop, so I figured I'd head south for some spring training.

I just finished a batch of my famous Guacomole so its time to go find the recliner and watch the big game. My call....Colts in a half. I'll be fast asleep before the halftime show is over...